Random Wedding Planning and a RANT

Hey everyone! This is a loooong post just so all of you know. Exactly how long? 1,950 words to be exact. Enjoy! 🙂

Recently, I have been complaining a lot about the wedding industry. All of my complaining even led to Catherine publishing an article on her website about her similar views of the wedding industry and why people pay for bad service.

Don't get me wrong, I have had some awesome luck with wedding planning, but I have also received some very bad service.

I am the type of person who will not pay for bad service, regardless of how cheap the service/products are. I value companies where they pride themselves on their good and personalized customer service.

I love my photographer, DJ, caterer, flower company (I'm getting these wholesale!), planner, makeup&hair company, photo booth, event rental and more, but I feel like it has taken a lot to get here. It seems like the past two weeks have been a complete turn around since the month before, where it seemed like so many people just hated the fact that they had a wedding business.

Also, if you want to completely skip my rant, just skip to the bottom where I talk about the good parts of wedding planning. And, I have some questions that I need help with at the end, so, please help me out!

My bad experience with one wedding company.

A few weeks ago, I went to a certain wedding company for my event rentals with a friend (one of my bridesmaids). I read the bad reviews online, but I just thought it was just picky costumers who liked to complain a lot who left these really bad reviews.

BOY, was I wrong.

If you are from the STL area and you are interested in who I am talking about so that you don't make the same mistake of wasting your time, please e-mail me. I don't feel like publicly bashing their name on my blog.

I'm not going to lie, the prices were cheaper than most, so I wanted to give them a shot because it meant that I would have saved a few hundred dollars for the exact same rentals.

Well, I walked in and no one greeted us. We stood there and still nothing, even though the workers were sitting there right in front of us (2 or 3 feet away) and were looking right at us. So, we walked up to them and still nothing.

Nope, nothing. I finally walked directly up to ONE of them and said hello so that this person would be forced to start working. It was obvious that neither was greeting us because neither wanted to be the one who would have to work. It was like a contest between the two of them to see who could not speak first…

There were a few questions that she could not answer, so she had to get the owner (he was maybe 10 feet away) to answer the questions (such as what the delivery fee would be, rental agreements, etc.), and that is when it got bad.

He stuck his hands in my face multiple times and called me a liar (when I wasn't even speaking!). More than 10 times, he also laughed AT my face whenever he told me I was wrong, which was extremely infuriating.

He wouldn't even look at me. In the middle of his yelling I had to say “I am the person renting your items.” He would only look at my friend or at the wall, and that was just very weird.

I remember he asked me a question about how flat the land was, and I said that there was plenty of flat land (acres upon acres of completely flat land – I believe there are a few hundred acres on the property). He then called me a liar and started yelling at me. He said that I didn't know what flat land was and basically called me stupid about 25 times.

This is the spot on the property where we are having our wedding (just changed it last week). We changed our wedding to being completely outdoors with no tent except for the food area (unless it rains). This isn't the flattest spot on the property (since we want the reception to not be under a tent anymore, we wanted a spot with lots of trees and shade in case it is too hot), but it is definitely flat! The spot where we originally were going to have it is even flatter, so it would have been no problem for them to lay a tent down.

He then stuck his hands in my face again to show me what hills look like. Yes, I'm not even kidding, he showed me what a hill looked like because he told me that I did not know…

He said that there is absolutely no way that the land is flat and that I have no clue what I'm talking about so that I should just stop talking. And then that's when he started evil laughing at me again because I apparently have no idea what I'm talking about.

Umm hello? I've seen plenty of flat land. This is Missouri after all and there is flat land all over the place. I told him that there were no hills where the tent would be going and he said I was wrong (he has NEVER been to this property – I can guarantee that). I'm still not sure why he was yelling.

He also accused me of wanting to ruin his rental items. Then he started yelling at me about how to properly take care of his items. I understand that he doesn't want his items ruined, but he does not have to yell at me and repeat that “the chairs should not be left in the rain” 100 times. I completely understand.

Trust me, I'm not the type of person who is going to let items get ruined. I am a nice person and I respect other people and their belongings.

He then asked me when the wedding would be, and I said June. His response was asking me why I would want to have a wedding at a time when everyone else has their wedding because that just puts more work on them because they will have to work. He then said that he would charge a higher delivery fee because he has to work. I am not kidding.

He actually said “UGGGHHHH WE ARE CHARGING YOU MORE!!!!”

OH MY GOD, I AM SO SORRY THAT YOU HAVE TO WORK MISTER.

He continued to yell at me for quite some time until the lady that we were originally talking to butted in and asked him to leave. Her specific words were “You are scaring these girls with all of your yelling, so I can take over now.”

Yes, it got so bad that his employee had to ask him to stop multiple times before he actually walked away.

When my friend and I hopped back into my car after that horrifying experience, neither of us said anything because the experience was that bad. I asked her what she thought (and this is one of my nicest friends who hates confrontations), and she said it was really bad and not to use them.

If she says someone is mean, then you have to believe her.

And, no, it's not just me. I worked in customer service for over 5 years, so I know how to treat people and I know what is just plain wrong. The reviews online about this company were also extremely similar, almost like I was reading what happened the day that I went.

Whenever I tell people about my horror stories, almost everyone tells me that the wedding industry can be scary to deal with.

Which is very sad considering weddings should mean a fun time, not associated with people who are always angry and hate potential customers. Also, everyone who has provided horrible customer service has REALLY bad reviews. Why do people continue to use companies with such bad reviews? If you see that they have bad reviews, wouldn't you want to run away?

Because of this, I researched the companies that I decided to use like crazy. Everyone that I signed contracts with have been a delight to work with, and I am so happy. Once the wedding is over, I will probably have one huge review post of everyone that we used to help other St. Louis brides.

We have now found a wonderful event rental company, and I booked with them. They were extremely nice and I can't believe how different the experience was with them (more information on this below).

My wedding plans and spending in the past week.

Anyway, this month has been full of wedding planning, and this past week was full of signing contracts and paying deposits. I also paid for our champagne glasses, my garters, my 120 inch veil (WOOHOO!), and the boutonnieres last week, which are all being done by awesome Etsy owners.

Desserts Galore!

A friend and I went to a cake tasting (yes, just one!), and I paid for all of the cakes and desserts. We got an AWESOME price, and when I was shown the invoice we were both shocked by how cheap it was.

We are getting a two-tier wedding cake that I love, 3 other cakes (German Chocolate, Heavenly Hash, and another that I can't remember – adding more cakes to that too), 3 pies (Peach, Cherry, Apple), brownies, cannolis, macarons, tons of cookies and more.

Price for all of that? A little less than $300! That is with us picking it up (delivery to where our wedding is would be ridiculous, I'm assuming since the cake place is around 1.5 hours away from the wedding).

Event Rentals.

That same day, we also signed the contract for our wedding event rentals. They only had us pay for a very small amount for the deposit (I think it was around $300), and the rest will be paid later of course. We are getting a white tent, round tables, 375 white chairs, linens, cocktail tables, dance floor and more.

We have also decided that the entire wedding will be outside, instead of everything being under a tent. The food and cocktail hour will be under a tent though because it may still be a little hot outside at that time. AND, the event rental company said that we could have the dance floor completely outside (whereas everyone else said that it had to be under a tent), so I am extremely happy about that.

Randomness.

I'm also in the middle of finalizing the contract for my photo booth. It's a Fish Eye photo booth that costs $1,400 (but he is giving me a discount). I have seen them in the past at bridal shows and his photo booth is honestly the best ever.

Yesterday, I also met up with the wedding planner and she was super nice. We went through the contract and her just saying everything made me SO HAPPY that I am having a day of coordinator so that I don't have to have a heart attack on my wedding day and also so that I don't punch anyone 🙂

This week, I really need to start working on invitations. Also, I need to find someone to do alterations to my dress and also groomsmen outfits. When did you do your alterations? What about groomsmen outfits? How much were your alterations and groomsmen outfits?

Also, if you are looking for a gift for Valentine's Day, check out my review of Datevitation. I have a $10 coupon code plus a free coupon book.

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“…will not pay for bad service, regardless of how cheap the service/products are.” I am completely with you on this one. I’d rather pay more and receive quality attention than try to skimp a few dollars…especially on services or activities that I want a lot of value from or will be special to me.

I have long felt that the wedding industry was something that I should try to get into.. It is one of those times in life when people have their wallets open and are willing to go the extra mile. It’s just a matter of finding the right niche inside of the niche…

I would certainly treat customers better than the people in your situation!

I think it’s so weird when companies employ people who are so rude. I had that sort of experience with a moving company we used, and it was almost surreal. I think that people like that have just stopped caring.

Wow. That first vendor is just horrible! I wonder how they’re still in business. Like you, I won’t pay for bad service, no matter much it would save me. I would rather pay MORE for attention to detail and quality.

The rest of your wedding sounds like it’s coming along. The dessert selection is amazing! I love how you’ll be serving pie.

Um…WOW! I’m totally with you on not paying for bad service, but this takes it to a whole new level. It seems clear that this guy just doesn’t care about his business, or providing value to those his business is serving – which is a shame since it’s in the wedding industry. Otherwise, it sounds like all else is going well on the wedding planning front. 🙂

That is incredible!!! How do they stay in business with that behavior?? I think I would have walked out long before you did.

We had a couple bad experiences with wedding vendors, but nothing as terrible as yours. Our worst was the hair/makeup stylist who yelled at me about my “bad attitude” after I 1) gave him a Look when he showed up 15 minutes late to our appointment and 2) told him I didn’t want fake eyelashes applied (I had said I wanted a “natural” look) and then dropped my appointment. Thankfully the owner of the salon figured out what happened and apologized profusely to me and got another stylist to do my hair (my sister had to finish my makeup). It was my bad for not researching that salon/stylist more (it wasn’t local to me).

RANT ON GIRL! I can not even believe that an owner would speak to a customer in that manner. That blows me away! Thank goodness you had other choices.

As far as when I got my dress altered.. I took it in to David’s Bridal around July I believe and the wedding was in August. Whenever I got my dress back I tried it on about once a week to make sure I hadn’t put on any poundage lol! They charged me a little over $200, but I had to get quite a bit done, length taken off, sides taken in, taken in around the chest, and I think that was it.

That story is so crazy about the rental company. It’s companies like those that make me want to start a bunch of small businesses. I mean how hard can it be to compete against a company like that? Anyway I’m glad you found a good rental company. As far as groomsmen outfits…we had tuxes so I think we got fitted four weeks before (maybe? I can’t remember how many weeks in advance it was) and then picked them up the day before.

Yep they were rented. Somewhat pricey for the groomsmen as it was about $130 or so per tux. BUT the groom gets a free rental if you bring in 4 or more other people to rent tuxes, so it probably would be free for you guys?

Yup, we were told that the 6th is free, and we have 7 groomsmen so that is no problem. For the tux that we want, the price is $200 per tux and that is after a $30 coupon per tux. I want to ge that further down though.

Wow that guy sounds like he has issues! I would have walked out as soon as he started yelling and name calling. I don’t know why people just can’t be decent. In any case, it sounds like you’re getting a great deal on the desserts! Yum.

Oh my gosh, that is downright bizarre – I’m surprised that company has any customers!! I would have walked out within five minutes, what a total d-bag. I’m glad you found some awesome vendors, though – the ones I came across were either super eager or not very organized/indifferent, so I always chose the former for obvious reasons. I got my alterations done three months prior (and just had a final/second fitting), but mine is a corset so I don’t have to really think about if it will fit since things can be adjusted. I’d probably suggest around the same time frame, and it came out to close to $300 which includes steaming. For the groom and groomsmen outfits, since they’re all over the place (same as my bridesmaids), we just went to Men’s Wearhouse so it could all be uniform and they have locations everywhere. Can’t wait to read more about your planning!! 🙂

WOW! I can’t even believe this guy! How is he even still in business? I’m so sorry you have had such a terrible experience. I’m in the middle of planning my wedding and so far it’s been smooth sailing (*fingers crossed*), but finding a chair vendor in my budget is bound to give me some headaches, I can already feel it! haha! Best of luck in your future planning!

Well, I’m in the Los Angeles area so all the pricing is over-inflated here, but I’m hoping to rent 155 black chiavari chairs for less than $5/chair (which is the low side of average). I did find a place that has offered me $3.50/chair with cushion included + a small delivery/pick up fee, but their black chairs are all sold out that weekend. We might go with gold, but I have a few months to shop around (the wedding is in October). The chairs aren’t necessary (venue has average [read: ugly] chairs included), but we’re underbudget right now and I would love to change the ambiance with some nice chairs! 😉

Wow! I thought our prices were bad! I have had a lot of quotes $7-8 but haven’t seen $15! I found some stretch covers online for $2/chair but I would have to do it all myself and I’d rather pay an extra $1.50 for the right chairs + set up. I swear the chiavari chair rental business is the one to get into! haha! 🙂

What an awful story about the rental company! A wedding is stressful enough to plan, your providers are supposed to take away the stress and not add to it. At least this bad experience led you to an even better rental company!

I worked at a venue for many, many years that did a LOT of weddings, and was an Event Coordinator there for several years. I’ve had to work with a ton of consistently terrible DJ’s, Bakeries, Florists, etc. Unfortunately people spend so much money on weddings that they try to cut costs where they think it won’t matter as much, and cheap often wins out over service. There’s also the unfortunate part where a successful business starts to feel like they can treat people however they want, thinking that you need them more than they need you. We were a well respected venue with overall good reviews, and even still, we had a few Coordinators that took this attitude, and I sometimes found myself coming between the owner and a customer. It’s a stressful industry that requires a lot of hard work, especially during the wedding season. And unfortunately there are a lot of people working in the industry who really don’t have the disposition for it.

Wow, that’s freaking awful! I am so glad you went with a nice company. That guy must have something wrong in his brain. How does he stay in business if he’s a complete jerk? Whatever. Have a great wedding!!!

Dealing with our flower vendor was the WORST. Seriously. And to make matters worse/better is that our florals were through Whole Foods! A met with the vendor about 5 months before the wedding and showed her exactly what I wanted. I told her our budget and asked if it was reasonable. She told me that she could get me everything I wanted for under $2k and pushed me to add on a couple of things because they would be in my budget. FABULOUS!

Fast forward to a month before our wedding and I called to confirm and get pick up times. When I asked for the final price, she said it would be 5k!!!!!!! WHAT. I just broke down and cried on the phone. And then I got angry and talked to just about every Whole Food Floral higher up I could find until they guaranteed me that they had reduced the price to 1999.99.

The day of the wedding, I picked up the flowers and they were nothing that I paid for or asked for. The girl who did the arrangements (and met with me earlier) said that it was the only flowers they had in store. At that point I was so tired that I just didn’t care. But the flowers fell apart because they were not properly wrapped and my bouts were unusable after 15 minutes.

We also had horrible vendor service from our caterer. They were great the day of but totally sucked in the lead up.

Your experience at that event rental place sounds absolutely horrific. Hopefully you won’t have any more experiences like that again during your wedding planning.
When we were planning my sister’s wedding, we had a bridal shop that treated us like that. My sister wanted a dress that she had seen on their online shop and the consultant kept telling her that my sister had confused the bridal stores and that they didn’t carry that dress.

We’ve been pretty lucky, all of our vendors have been great to work with so far. I guess it helps that we’ve basically stuck to vendors that people we know have used in the past and vouched for. Fingers crossed our good luck continues, it sucks you had an experience like that!

Wow! What an awful experience. How did you bite your tongue and not give him a taste of his own medicine?
You’d think a business owner would want to generate business and keep clientele happy but obviously there are still some oddballs around the place who are either clueless or don’t give a hoot.

That is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard. I would have let him scream at me for about 3 seconds and then given it right back to him. If I’m a paying customer I demand good service (or at least basic respect). I respect you deeply for not blasting his name all over the Internet (which is what I would want to do), but apparently he doesn’t care about his name based on the bad reviews his company is receiving.

I’m glad everything else is working out OK 🙂 I’ve had wonderful experiences with Etsy sellers and would want to use them as much as possible in my wedding (once I have a wedding to plan 😉 )

wow I can’t believe how rude that place was! you are a better person than me though because I would have told him off ha. I love how people get all haughty like they are doing you a huge favor when you are PAYING them. so irritating. I’m getting more into wedding plans now too and am hoping for as little drama as possible!
— jackie – jade and oak

I’m so sorry you had to deal with that! Unfortunately there are quite a few crappy wedding vendors these days and somehow they still get work. I’m glad you get to move on and won’t have him involved with your wedding!

UGH terrible customer service makes me cringe! For the most part, I would try out a place that has not-so-awesome reviews for the sake of saving money. I’m willing to go through some mediocre service, but when a manager or other employee just starts verbally harassing me or attempts to make me feel stupid, I am out the door! I don’t mind paying less for less-than-stellar service. But I will never award terrible service with my money. UGHH.

Other than that, it sounds like you’re on top of all this wedding stuff, girl! A day-of coordinator is a MUST.

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Hello and welcome!My name is Michelle and I'm the author/owner of Making Sense of Cents. Learning how to save money and make more money changed my life. It allowed me to pay off $40,000 in student loans, start my own business, and I now travel full-time.